Net Neutrality. What good is a free operating system without a network?

[Ben Scott]

On 5/9/06, Greg Rundlett <greg.rundlett at gmail.com> wrote:
> The information super highway must not be made into a censored
> toll-lane.

  I'm gonna dust off my "There is no Internet" mini-essay for this:

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  There is this myth that "the Internet" exists as a single, cohesive
network. It does not, and never has. "The Internet" is a network of
networks. What that means is that a bunch of independent network
operators have agreed to exchange traffic with each other because it
benefits them. When you dial in to your ISP of choice (or plug in your
Ethernet cable or whatever), you're not connecting to the Internet.
You're connecting to your ISP. Your ISP probably connects to their
ISP. Their ISP (if you're lucky) connects to several other ISPs, who
connect to other ISPs, and so on.  All these independent network
operators form "the Internet".

  To put this in more immediate terms: If I am your ISP, you are not
connecting to "the Internet".  You are connecting to *my* network. 
You and I might have an agreement that in exchange for a monthly fee,
I'll pass on your packets to someone else, but you're still using *my*
network.  If you don't like what I do with your packets, you're free
to stop using my network, but you don't get to tell me how to run my
network.

  So, "the Internet" exists as an abstract concept (and a useful one),
but not as something you can touch. Not even as something you can
route traffic through. All you can do is connect to some other guy's
network and hope for the best.  The idea that the Internet is this
utopian cyberspace where everybody is equal is a myth, and always has
been.

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  I say this not because I think the big telcos should be allowed to
do this, but because this "the free Internet" thing needs a reality
check.

-- Ben "There is no Internet" Scott